They left Station 19 through the rear entrance.
No one trusted the main doors anymore.
The night air struck Amanda's face as they stepped outside. Tyler stayed close despite the pain in his ribs. Reyes took the lead, while Claire carried Lily for the first few minutes until the child insisted she could walk.
Evan followed several yards behind them.
Amanda kept looking back.
“Why are you following us?”
“Because you're going to need me.”
“You've said that before.”
“And I was right before.”
Tyler glanced at him. “You still haven't explained why you were supposed to be dead.”
Evan's expression hardened. “Because dead men don't get transferred.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means six years ago, Daniel discovered that the people inside the department weren't simply corrupt. They were replacing witnesses.”
Amanda frowned. “Replacing them with what?”
“Copies.”
The word sounded absurd.
Until Amanda remembered Evelyn's face.
Evan continued. “Not perfect copies. Not at first. They used forged records, altered photographs, voice recordings, staged deaths, false medical histories. Then they found someone who could make the deception almost impossible to detect.”
“Who?”
Evan looked at Claire.
Claire looked away.
“Evelyn,” she said.
Amanda's stomach tightened.
“She wasn't the person who started it,” Claire continued. “She was the person who perfected it.”
Tyler asked, “And Daniel?”
“Daniel tried to expose them.”
“And Frank?”
“Frank helped him.”
“Then why did they die?”
Evan stopped walking.
“Because they trusted the wrong person.”
Amanda thought of Reyes.
Reyes heard it too.
He turned.
“Are you accusing me?”
“No.”
Evan looked at him for a long moment.
“I'm telling you what Daniel told me.”
Reyes's jaw tightened. “What did he tell you?”
“That you signed the transfer because you believed the witness was already dead.”
Reyes went silent.
Amanda felt something shift.
“Who did you think was dead?”
Reyes looked at her.
“You.”
The answer stunned everyone.
Amanda shook her head.
“But I'm here.”
“I know.”
“No. You thought I was dead?”
“Six years ago,” Reyes said quietly, “we were told Amanda Morgan died in a house fire.”
Tyler stepped toward him. “What?”
Reyes looked at Tyler with visible pain. “Your father was the one who told us.”
Amanda's mind flashed white.
“My father-in-law?”
“Yes.”
“But I was alive.”
“I know.”
“Then who died?”
No one answered.
Lily did.
“The other Amanda.”
The silence became unbearable.
Amanda looked at the child.
“What other Amanda?”
Lily pointed toward the road.
A black SUV had stopped at the corner.
Its headlights were off.
The driver's door opened.
A woman stepped out.
Amanda's face.
Not similar.
Identical.
Same hair.
Same eyes.
Same scar beneath the chin.
Same coat.
Even the same wedding ring.
Tyler whispered Amanda's name.
Both women turned toward him.
The stranger smiled.
“You see?” Evan said.
Amanda couldn't breathe.
The woman began walking toward them.
Reyes raised his gun.
The woman stopped.
“Captain,” she said.
Her voice was Amanda's.
“I know what you did.”
Reyes lowered his weapon slightly.
“I didn't do anything.”
“You transferred the witness.”
“No.”
“You transferred her.”
“I transferred a body.”
Amanda stared at him.
“What body?”
Reyes looked at her.
“A woman who looked like you.”
The stranger laughed softly.
“You still don't understand.”
Then she turned toward Lily.
The little girl shrank against Claire.
The stranger's expression changed.
“You were never supposed to survive.”
Lily began crying.
Tyler moved between them.
The stranger smiled.
“You really are brave.”
Tyler's voice was low.
“Stay away from her.”
“She remembers the boy.”
Amanda's heart hammered.
The stranger continued.
“She remembers the night he disappeared.”
Amanda felt the memory coming.
A basement.
A locked door.
A boy with dark hair.
Daniel shouting.
Frank bleeding from his forehead.
A woman wearing Amanda's face.
And Tyler's father standing in the doorway.
Amanda grabbed Tyler's arm.
“I remember.”
“What?”
“The boy wasn't taken.”
Everyone looked at her.
“He was hidden.”
Evan stepped closer.
“Where?”
Amanda closed her eyes.
The answer appeared with terrible clarity.
“Under the house.”
Claire covered her mouth.
The stranger's smile disappeared.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
Amanda opened her eyes.
“There was a room beneath the blue house.”
Evan whispered, “The cellar.”
“No.”
Amanda shook her head.
“Not the cellar.”
She remembered Daniel kneeling beside a wooden panel.
A hidden latch.
A narrow staircase.
A room beneath the foundation.
And a boy whispering through the wall.
“Don't let them make me disappear.”
Tyler stared at her.
“Who was he?”
Amanda looked toward Lily.
Then toward Evan.
Then toward the woman who wore her face.
“I don't know.”
The woman suddenly turned and ran.
Reyes shouted.
Evan chased her.
Tyler started after them, but Amanda stopped him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“We don't chase her.”
“Why?”
“Because she wants us to.”
Amanda pointed toward the black SUV.
The rear door was open.
Inside sat a child-sized backpack.
On it was a faded blue patch.
Amanda recognized it.
She had sewn that patch herself.
Six years ago.
For the boy.
PART 31 END
Click here to continue reading: PART 32: BENEATH THE BLUE HOUSE
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 31 of 40
